Articles by Janet Jagan
The Advocacy of A New Global Human Order Moves Another Step Forward
by Janet Jagan
My warmest congratulations to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Hon. Rudy Insanally and his Ministry and delegation to the United Nations (UN) for their splendid efforts in promoting the resolution in the United Nations for a New Global Human Order (NGHO).
The United Nations General Assembly on December 17, by consensus, adopted this resolution which was proposed by Guyana and supported by the Caribbean Community and the Rio Group. The number of co-sponsors of the resolution has now grown to 75, an indication of the growing, broader support.
According to the Ministry’s press release, the NGHO “is concerned with the human development dilemma of persistent poverty and under-development amidst unprecedented global prosperity seeks to promote partnership and cooperation among all nations for greater and more balanced economic and social progress.” It calls for primacy to be given to people in the development process in order to create an environment where human beings can develop their potential and contribute meaningfully to their societies.
In the debate on the item at the UN, speakers alluded to the fact that while new and expanded opportunities and greater prosperity had been realized for many states, the contemporary order was increasingly marked by uneven levels of progress. The NGHO offers a qualitatively different approach to development that addresses these realities.
The consensus text also recognizes that inequality within and among countries is a concern for all countries regardless of their level of development – with multiple implications for the realization of the internationally agreed development goals including the Millennium Development Goals. Accordingly, the consensus calls on the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to submit to the General Assembly, at its 65th Session, a report on the implementation of the resolution including an assessment of the implications of inequality for development. It is expected that the report will provide a stronger basis for building over time a just and equitable system of international economic and social relations.
The resolution on a New Global Human Order was first introduced in the UN in the year 2000. However, preparation for that resolution began years before. One might say that the beginning was in the year 1993 when the late President Cheddi Jagan introduced his concept of a way to alleviate world poverty through a “consensus on development” and an agenda for peace, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government helped in Cyprus.
Only a few months after that “firing of the first salvo” which Foreign Minister Clement Rohee described in his introduction to the 1999 book “A New Global Human Order” by Cheddi Jagan. This first publication containing President Jagan’s thoughts on the subject was issued in pamphlet form and sent to every Head of State and Government the world over.
President Jagan, some months later, published his ideas on a NGHO in a booklet entitled “Pushing for a New Global Human Order” which he distributed at the first Summit of the Americas held in Miami in December 1994. I happened to be with him in Cyprus and in Miamai on those two occasions. The intensity of his drive to push for a NGHO was remarkable to witness!
Dr Jagan in 1996, at the 7th Inter-Sessional meeting of Caricom Heads of Government held in Guyana took the opportunity to introduce the concept to regional leaders. The meeting expressed general support for his call.
At the same time, Dr Jagan asked Foreign Affairs Minister Clement Rohee to meet with Ambassadors Rudy Insanally, Havelock Brewster and Rudy Collins to further examine and discuss the NGHO.
A motion endorsing the concept of the NGHO to the Guyana Parliament was unanimously adopted in October, 1966. Before that, in August 1966, President Jagan called for a Conference of intellectuals and academics from both the developed and developing world, from trade unions and religious and political organizations to examine all aspects of a NGHO. This conference adopted what is known as the Georgetown Declaration on the New Global Human Order.
At the Georgetown Conference, Dr Jagan expressed the view that developing countries because of their huge foreign debt burden could not embark on the road to prosperity and that handouts and mendicancy were not the solution, nor was aid with strings attached. What was needed, he argued, was a totally new approach which would address the debt problems and find new and innovative ways of mobilizing fresh resources to overcome under-development so as to enable the developing countries, in partnership with the developed countries, to play a more important and meaningful role in the global market place, currently characterized by rapid globalization and trade liberalization.
On the day before he suffered the heart attack that would lead to his untimely death, President Cheddi Jagan addressed the Sixth Meeting of the Free Trade Area of the Americas Working Group on Smaller Economies at the Pegasus Hotel on February 13, 1997. Fortunately, I was witness to this important address, which I can never forget.
In the last speech of his life he said: “Many of our countries are experiencing onerous debt problems, grinding poverty, high unemployment and increasing social disintegration. New countries are seeking debt relief from commercial creditors and other multilateral financial institutions in order to advance the development process for the benefit of our peoples.” He called for a definite solution to the third world’s crushing debt problems and urged that debt relief must be seen as an investment not only in the development of poor countries, but also in the security of rich nations.
In the year 2000, the Foreign Affairs Ministry through the country’s UN office put forward a resolution on the concepts proposed by the late Guyana President for a New Global Human Order and it was accepted. A few days ago, the United Nations renewed the call for a NGHO.
Note: For best reading on the subject is a book published by our daughter Nadira Jagan-Brancier with a brilliant foreword by former Foreign Affairs Minister Clement Rohee entitled “A New Global Human Order” by Cheddi Jagan, available at the Michael Forde Bookshop, Robb Street, Georgetown and at the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre, Red House, Georgetown.
© Nadira Jagan-Brancier 2009
An Achievement We Can be Proud of
by Janet Jagan (January 13, 2008)
In Australia, the death rate among Aboriginal children is nearly three times higher than the non-indigenous infants. Australian figures also show that 70% of the Aboriginal population, who number about 500,000, die before the age of 65 compared with 20% of other Australians. The average life expectancy for Aboriginal men is 59 compared with 77 for non-indigenous males. (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures)
The report also says that poor nutrition, obesity, smoking, alcohol and drug abuse are the main causes of death. Overcrowded housing, unsafe drinking water and poor sanitary conditions are also contributing factors.
This is a brief picture of one country which has a serious problem with its indigenous population. Australia is considered one of the several countries of the world with a high standard of living, a growing economy and a highly rated democracy. Yet it has not brought those standards to its indigenous population so that they, too, could live a better life.
Take a look at our own area – the Western Hemisphere – which was at one time populated by the indigenous people, several of whom had developed high level societies, like the Mayas, the Aztecs and the Incas had maintained high levels of culture and science. For example, their irrigation systems still astound modern engineers.
Yet the remains of most of these indigenous peoples are treated poorly, many live at the lowest levels of poverty and little is done to bring their living, educational, health, etc. standards to the level of those who now occupy their lands.
The three giants of the hemisphere – the USA, Canada and Brazil – have failed miserably to bring their indigenous populations to the same levels as their own people.
In Guyana, those who cannot stand the fact that the People’s Progressive Party is still in office, and has the unusual standing of having won, in all, seven elections (eight if we count 1964 when the PPP received the highest number of votes, but was denied government when the UK/USA alliance forced Burnham and D’Aguiar to form a coalition), find every single thing that the government does as wrong. Their vile propaganda fouls the air of the country. Yet, Guyana has much to be proud of.
It is my belief that Guyana, of all the countries with indigenous people, has performed the best for their interests and welfare. The PPP created a Ministry of Amerindian Affairs with a Cabinet Minister so that there would be a specific and constant focus on the problems of Guyanese Amerindians. So much has been achieved. One of the noteworthy developments is in the area of health, which has seen a marked reduction in infant and maternal mortality and actually, an increase in the Amerindian population. In most parts of the world, it is the opposite. Our health records are phenomenal. Over 90% of Guyana’s children have been immunized, a positive ingredient for longer life.
Education is no longer limited to children of the coastal and riverain areas. It is now on an equal basis in the interior areas where the majority of Amerindian people reside. The introduction of Amerindian Month has helped focus and encourage attention their history and culture.
Throughout Guyana, access to secondary education has increased from 35% in 1992 to more than 80% last year. In the Amerindian areas, new secondary schools have been and are being built and staffed with teachers now being trained at centres within the regions. The new secondary school include three in Region 9, three in Region 1, one in Region 8, one in Upper Mazaruni plus two now in construction. New teachers training centres were opened, for example, in Regions One and Nine.
Several Amerindians are Chairmen of Regional Democratic Councils, and many take part in administration of their areas. The demarcation of lands and the issuance of land titles to Amerindian communities now covers more than 13.5% of Guyana’s land area, as compared to 6.5% in 1992.The new Amerindian Act was passed on February 16, 2006, empowering Amerindians socially, economically and politically, bringing their status to the level of all Guyanese – quite a change from the demeaning third class citizenship of earlier days.
There are many things Guyanese can be proud of that have taken place since the 1992 PPP victory. And one of them is that our indigenous people are, at last, an integral part of the Guyanese community and a people on the ‘go’!
© Nadira Jagan-Brancier 2009
By Janet Jagan
Sometimes we tend to overlook some of the very positive decisions and discussions going on at the international level as we become so self-absorbed with local events. Besides the many horrific events going on overseas, like the non-stop slaughter of Afghans and Iraqis, the shame of Darfur, the threats by Israel to bomb out Iran, the electoral scandals by Mugabe in Zimbabwe (not much different from the PNC vote rigging from 1968-1991), the crime of Guantanamo Bay Prison, the starvation of children worldwide but particularly in Africa and the spread of HIV/AIDS, etc, it is heartening to see some welcome advances by society.
In May this year, in Dublin, a hundred countries agreed to a treaty banning cluster bombs. As one commentator, Gwynne Dyer (Sunday Chronicle June 1, 2008) said of the efforts to get agreement on the banning of cluster bombs: “The British armed forces clung to their cluster bombs like a baby to its rattle, and some suspected that they were trying to sabotage the treaty on behalf of their American friends (who were not there, of course). But Prime Minister Gordon Brown overruled them in the end…”. Good for Gordon Brown! I doubt that his predecessor Tony Blair would have done the same, so lovingly close he was to the Bush administration.
I feel close to this subject for two reasons. One, the ghastly results of cluster bombs and land mines on civilians, particularly children, has always horrified me. And two, when I was President, I had the exact same experiences as Gordon Browne. Our military positively refused to agree to a decision to ban land mines and support a treaty that was being signed in Canada. They didn’t understand how incorrect was their stance until much later.
There are large areas in the world, where wars have taken place, that are literally littered with unexploded bomblets. I remember seeing a documentary about Afghanistan, showing hundreds and hundreds of children and adults with at least one limb missing as a result of such a bomb exploding while they were tilling the land, just taking a walk or playing in a field that had not been combed safely of cluster bombs.
These bomblets, left unexploded, can go on killing civilians for years after they are dropped. For example, Israel dropped some four million bomblets on Lebanon and to date some 30 have been killed by the unexploded bomblets, not mentioning those injured.
Actually, warfare has produced two types of small explosives – some air dropped and some scattered by the victorious army as it leaves the territory it has conquered, leaving additional chaos and suffering.
The USA has excused itself from the cluster bomb treaty by declaring: “While the United States shares the humanitarian concerns of those in Dublin, cluster munitions have demonstrated military utility, and their elimination from US stock piles would put the lives of our soldiers … at risk.” Not mentioned are the massive profits made by the munitions manufacturers!
Another positive development, in attitude, comes from a woman – one of the many strong women leaders who have emerged in large numbers over the years – United Nations Human Rights Chief Louise Arbour, who, in her farewell speech made a passionate call for people’s rights. She attacked mistreatment of women and gays in many countries and called for equal condemnation of rights violations wherever they happen. (Reuters, June 3, 2008)
She urged condemnation of anti-semitism and Islamophobia, abuse of minorities, immigrants and people from `perceived’ lower castes.
Said Ms Arbour: “A key aspect of women’s legal disenfranchisement in many countries is the limitation placed on their ability to own or manage property, including through unjust divorce or inheritance laws… perpetuation of prejudices continues to deny equal rights and dignity to millions worldwide on the basis of nothing more innocuous than their sexual identity or orientation, or their ancestry in the case of caste discrimination.”
These are the words of a genuine and creative women’s rights advocate and a staunch, unbiased, human rights activist. She deserves our admiration for militant and fearless leadership.
© Nadira Jagan-Brancier 2009
The Struggles of Women Must Continue
(by Janet Jagan in observance of International Women’s Day)
“Just a few days ago we celebrated International Women’s Day, an important day to all women, everywhere. This celebration, generally in Guyana, was not so several years ago when the only group recognizing that notable day was the Women’s Progressive Organization (WPO), women’s arm of the People’s Progressive Party. The reason for this national neglect to recognize the day had to do with politics – one, that is was the WPO celebrating a day in a country ruled by the People’s National Congress and two, that is was celebrated internationally only in the socialist world. It was not until the United Nations recognized International Women’s Day that it gained an international status.”
All of this tells its own tale in Guyana of the development and growth of the women’s movement for equal rights. Historically, the first grouping of women for political and economic goals was the Women’s Political and Economic Organization (WPEO) which was organized in 1946 by three women – Winifred Gaskin, Frances Van Stafford and myself. We soon gathered enough women around us to start the WPEO, which aimed at women’s rights – to vote without restrictions, to have equal rights with men regarding property, the right to sit on juries, to become members of the Legislative Council, to enjoy equal opportunities to jobs with equal pay like male employees, to good housing, nutrition, etc.
The WPEO played an important role in bringing awareness of their rights to women, since it was the first of its kind to do so. Other women’s group up to that time was mainly religious, social and/or charitable. But in the long run politics entered and finally let to its disintegration. The 1947 elections led to participation by some WPEO members. Ms. Van Stafford contested the South Georgetown seat where Nathaniel Critchlow was the Labour candidate and supported by Winifred Gaskin. I, too, was a candidate, in Central Georgetown, but my activity did not lead to any conflict in the WPEO. The centre of conflict was the matter of Stafford on one side and Gaskin on the side of Critchlow. That campaign got rough with wild allegations being made of a racial kind, and eventually there was an election petition. Sides were taken in the WPEO with those supporting Gaskin and others for Stafford. Unfortunately, it eventually ended up in the break-up of the WPEO, which had been doing so well.
In 1950, the PPP was founded and by 1953, it had formed a women’s arm, the WPO (as it did also, to form a youth arm). This apparently set the pattern for future women’s rights groups with the PNC having one – WRSM and later the WPA having its own. Even the trade unions followed this pattern, so that, to this day, the main women’s rights groups are attached or associated with political parties, and to some lesser extent, to trade unions. I’m not sure where else this pattern exists, but it certainly has influenced the course of the women’s movement in Guyana.
Many advances in women’s rights have grown out of this situation. The fight for universal adult suffrage, one of the PPP’s strong demands in the constitutional battles with the British leading up to the 1953 elections was won with women gaining two important rights – the right to vote unfettered by property or income qualifications and the right to vote irrespective of being literate. This was pushed by the PPP as many Guyanese (higher among women) could not read or write and thus the introduction of symbols to assist illiterates.
Later, when the PPP, having been deposed of office by the British 133 days after winning the elections, again won elections in 1957. Other efforts to improve the status of women were gained. Protection under the Workmen’s Compensation Act was made to include domestic workers. At that time, married women were not allowed to continue to work in the public service, and these also included nurses. This restriction was removed.
The WPO focused its grass root activities on bringing girl children into the educational system. This was the first time this was done and slowly but surely, girls were liberated from domestic chores and sent to school. As we know today, the female sex has a higher ratio of attendance at all levels of education, including our University. It has been recognized that education is the key to women’s advancement in all spheres of life.
Today, Guyana can boast of having women leading in almost every sphere of activity – from the law courts where the first woman Chief Justice in the whole Caribbean area was a woman, the first President, women in the hierarchy of medicine, culture, business, science, trade unions, administration, cabinet, etc.
Guyanese women have gone a long way upwards as have women all over the world. Today we can see Heads of State in Chile, Argentina, Liberia, the Philippines, New Zealand and Germany with India having a President (though not Head of State). Women hold vital and important positions in world bodies like the United Nations and in their government. The USA may possibly have its first woman President this year and the head of the US House of Representatives is a woman.
No one can deny the great strides women have made in the 20th and 21st centuries. That is not to say that there is not a long road ahead for more changes. Women today bear the heavy burdens of poverty, unemployment, violence against women, wars which lead to heavy migration, misery and worsening living conditions, lack of water and sanitation, housing and all the basic needs of living. So the struggle continues to broaden the gains made on the area of women’s rights and this requires the energies and attention of all women, all over the world.
© Nadira Jagan-Brancier 2009